Black-sand and gold saving machine and undercurrent.



G. J. EVANS. BLADK SAND AND GOLD SAVING MACHINE AND UNDBRCURRBNT.

APPLICATION FILED MAR.. 13, 1911. 1,032,746.

Patented July 16, 1912.

To all whom 'it may concern:

CHARLES a. EvAN'apr sAN FRANCISCO, CALiroRNIA.

BLACK-SAND AND eoLD'sAvrNe MACHINE Arm UnDEnCnRENr.

acaarae.

Specification of Letters Patent.

ratentea Jaiy'ic, 1912.

appl-:cation aieamarcn is, 191i. serial no. 614,023. H'

Be itknown that L, CHARLES J EVANS, a citizen of the United States, residing in the city" and county of San Francisco and State of California, have invented new and useful Improvements in Black-Sand and Gold Saving Machines and Undercurrents, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to an apparatusv for saving gold, and particularly pertains to a gold saving attachment for sluice boxes, such asa-re employed in placer and dredger mining operations, for separatingmineral bearing sands from the aggregates.- It is the object of this invention to provide a means for separatin fine materials from coarse materials, and or directing the fine materials over amalgamating rililes so' as to separate the mineral values from the worthless aggregates.

The purpose of this invention is to provide a device which maybe readily attached to a sluice box for the separation' and segrega tion of mineral particles, which-is lnot liable to become clogged or choked, and which may be easily cleaned and repaired when necessar j I.

' further object is to provide an apparatus of the above character which is/simple in construction and inexpensive in manufacf ture and installation. l

'The invention consists of the parts and` the construction and combination of parts, .asV hereinafter more fully described andclaimed, having reference to the `vaccompa-l nying drawings in which- Figure 1 is a verticalsection of the inven-y tion as applied. Fig.` 2yis a' detail plan view o f the segregating bars." Fig. 3.1s a plan yiew o f a party of the rilile employed in the invention. Figx 4 is a ,sectional view of the segregating barsl on the" line X-X,

Fig. 2. f

the drawings represents a sluice box, which maybe cfany'fsuitable construct-ion,

andsupported and arranged in any desired.

K manner, and .to which a volume of wateran'd aggregates may be delivered as ordinarily .practised in hydraulic'or placer mining. 1 i

My presentinvention resides in disposing a series Cf superposed or stepped-up 'rows of segregatmg bars4 or teeth 2 at any convenient omtin tl'iebottom of the sluice' A, as shown Fig. 1. In this caseftwo rows of teeth are shown; the upper row bein mounted beneath the bottom of the end o a sectio'i'il of the sluice 'A and projecting a. distance therebeyond. The teeth 2 of t-he lower row are mounted upon a laterally extending supporting member 3, -with theirl upper Vends disposed beneath the outer ends of the teeth 2 inthe upper row, and with their lower ends projecting over the bottom 'of the upper end of the next section oi the sluice A.'v These segregating teeth 2 are peculiarly shaped. to adapt them for the purpose Ato which they. are put, viz., that of `separating and grading the aggregates which are deliv-` `ered to the uppermost sluice A., and which are caused to travel across the teeth 2 by means of the flow of water in the sluice A; the teeth bein 'V-shaped on their upper face and tapered om their inner to their outer endsto form gradually diverging slots or spaces .4 between adjacent teeth, as shown in Fig. 2. This is an important feature of this invention inasmuch as, .by this lformation of the teeth 2,.there will beno tendency of boulders becomin wedged in. the. space between the teeth which would clog the teeth and prevent the successful operation of the apparatus.

Disposed beneath klthe segregating teeth 2 is a sub-sluice 5 in which the liner materials passing' between the teeth 2 are received. This'sub-sluice is provided withv an opening irr its bottom, at any convenient point, in which opening a second series of superposed rows of segregatin teeth 2 are arranged 1n a' .like'manner to t e teeth in the sluice A;

the teeth 2,'however,.being smallercr closer .togetherso as to grade the materials deliv- Vered to the sub-sluice 5. The materials passing between the teeth 2 are delivered to an inclined screen 6 arranged therebeneath, which screen is preferably formedof burlap, cr other coarse fabric, which screen further grades the materials, Vthe coarsest .of which pass over the lower edge of the screen into a chute 7, `and the iinest passthrou h the screen 6 and dropupon a series of ri es 8 where they are acted upon. b quicksilver in the usual manner. These ri es are separated into rowsby meansfof partitions 9 so as to confine the amal ams` to a limited space.

and prevent their co1 ectionalong'the sides of the amalgamating box as would bethe tendency if the apparatus is mounted on a.

barge' or other structure having a rocking movement.

Theoperation of the invention is a p arent .from the foregoing description, it eing yso 'seen that the aggregates will be graded by the several series of segregating teeth 2-2; and the fine mineral carrying particles will be furtherseparated bythe screen 6; and

.i that the free particles of mineral will be taken up by the quicksilver on the ritiles f sluices in any suitable manner, as indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 1, thereby acting to impede the forward movement of the stream and directin it back between and under the outer ends o the teeth 2-2.

A hand lever 12 is mounted on each of the rock-shaftsy 11, exterior ofthe sluices A-,

by means of which the rock-shafts 11 may be actuated; la pawl 13 onl the levers12 being adapted to engage a toothed segment 14 to retain the rock-shaft 1-1 and the plate 10 in any desired position.

As a means of insuring a suiicient supply of water being delivered to the screen 6 and tothe riiiles 8, separate conduits 14-15 are provided, to which water may be supplied from any suitable source.

It obvious that while I have shown but two sets of the segregating teeth 2 2', thatas many sets may be employed as may be found desirable or as conditions may require.

It isdesirable, in arranging the ,super-lv posed rows of segregating vteeth 2-2, that the outer ends of the. teeth be spaced above the teeth or chute therebelow, a distance coarser materials being carried back under the edges of the teeth.

I-Ia-ving thus described my invention what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is v 1. In an apparatus of the character described, the combination with a sluice havingl a bottom f opening and overlapping, spacedy screen sections, in said opening, of a pivoted deflector mounted on the sluice above said screen sections and adapted to cause a current of water to flow back through the space between the overlapping ends of the sections, and means for holding the deiiector at variousV angles to` the vertical. l

2. In an apparatus of the character described, the combination with a sluice hav-l ing an opening in the bottom thereof, of a series of superposed rows of segregating teeth disposed beneath the opening in said sluice, said teeth being' formed with V- shaped upper edges and tapered from their inner to their outer ends to form diverging spaces therebetween, Aa pivoted delector.

mounted on .said sluice adjacent the outer ends of said teeth by means of which a curwitnesses.

. CHARLES J. EVANS.

Witnesses: y y I J OHN H. HERRING, ELI HARTER. 

